Pink-Haired People Are Fools
Modern people reincarnated into the position of a lord or monarch will always think of this idea at some point.
The reason is simple.
If the standards are different, you can't gather power into one.
Even if you make the same thing, the length varies by village,
the unit for measuring grain is different,
the standard for containers holding alcohol differs,
and the value of currency is all over the place.
Production, distribution, taxes, and ledgers will all get tangled up.
To create a great power, you must first have the same standards.
But this era is feudalism.
It's not a time when one absolute ruler sets all rules.
Many nobles rule like small kings within their own territories.
So, within their own lands,
they measure lengths as they please,
weigh things as they please,
and mint coins as they please.
They've never fixed it, even though it's inconvenient.
After all, not many people have traveled widely enough to feel the inconvenience.
Bianca was initially surprised, but forcing down the flutter in her chest, she asked calmly,
“Is that possible?”
She was, after all, a person of this era.
It was too natural a common sense that weights and measures and currency operated separately.
Luang leaned back lazily on the sofa and answered.
“You’re not asking if it’s possible.”
His voice was low and calm.
“The nobles will have to cooperate. There are many connections between the nobles in the Emperor’s direct territories and those under my brother.”
That was true.
Under Manuel, there were already countless nobles gathered.
Thinking of the noble society intertwined by marriage and blood relations, they must also connect with the nobles in the Emperor’s direct territories.
Originally, Manuel had planted people in advance in preparation for becoming emperor later.
Even though it was the direct territories, in reality, it would be his land in the future.
So, spreading his bloodline and connections bit by bit was an extremely natural thing to do.
But the situation had twisted.
The possibility that Luang would be assigned the northeast had arisen.
From the nobles in the direct territories' perspective, they could be happy to have secured a good position.
But the problem was what came next.
Luang was not the type to settle in the capital.
In the end, it was highly likely he would join the Rosefield family.
That meant, at the moment he attached himself, the path to returning to the center and rising in status would become unclear.
Luang lifted the corner of his mouth slightly and said.
“If I tell you in advance what I’ll do in the negotiation hall, the head of the Lasky family will convey it to my brother, right?”
“Yes. Only the people in our family and His Highness Manuel know about this secret.”
“Good. Then—”
“Wait a minute!”
Angela suddenly interjected.
Instantly, all eyes in the reception room turned to her.
Luang, Bianca, and even the servants in the room froze for a moment.
Angela realized belatedly who she had interrupted and shrank her shoulders.
Insane.
Not just any insane person, but a dangerous insane person who might do anything if provoked.
But Luang didn’t get angry.
Instead, he looked at her with an expression of surprise and asked.
“Why?”
“Ah, um, um... Is it possible that the unification of weights and measures will be done with what?”
“With what? Are you asking about the unit?”
“Y-yes!”
Angela nodded her head vigorously.
Luang stared at her for a moment before asking back.
“Isn’t the most important thing actually convincing the nobles? If the nobles don’t move, the unification of weights and measures won’t even start.”
Even with that, Angela didn’t back down.
Instead, like a long-suppressed complaint bursting out, it poured out.
“That’s... the unit system here is too weird!”
“Weird?”
“When measuring capacity for making perfume, you bring weird cups. And that cup eventually wears down and shrinks, so the capacity changes again. Even if you look at the book, the capacity listed here is a different provincial unit, so you have to ask the merchant to recalculate it... and then the merchants from other provinces have different words than their own.”
It was a complaint spewed without taking a breath.
“Some provinces have a cup larger than here, some smaller, and some say the weight unit is the same but actually different... Since perfume is important with fine blending, if the standards are so unstable, even if you try to recreate the same scent, there will be errors every time.”
Angela was genuinely furious.
For her, this was not politics but a matter of survival.
From the perspective of someone who researches, creates, sells, and has to reproduce again,
“Roughly the same” doesn’t work.
Whether to add a few more drops of sweet scent,
what ratio to layer the fresh scent,
how much oil to skim off,
that fine difference could make the perfume name completely different.
But in this world, the standards were too arbitrary.
In the end, Angela had been researching while creating new standards every time.
After listening to her complaints, Luang finally asked with a slightly smiling face.
“So, what were you going to do with the gold coins?”
“That... buying?”
It was too honest and too simple an answer.
Luang just laughed.
It was cute.
Too foolish.
It was a smile close to holding back a harsh word if he opened his mouth.
Instead, Bianca calmly interjected.
“Lady Angela, that’s an unrealistic thing.”
“Why...?”
“Nobles aren’t the kind of people who will do anything if you give them money.”
Angela immediately countered.
“I know that too. So, this time, instead of gold coins, I’ll give limited perfumes. Recently, I’ve been holding back on some items so they’ll want them desperately?”
She had also learned from doing business.
How arrogant the nobles are,
how they look down on people while wanting their own things.
Many didn’t even come directly to request; they sent servants to act displeasingly.
So, Angela didn’t hold back.
She even created limited editions that nobles couldn’t obtain even if they died.
The way of giving and receiving precious gifts to read the other’s intentions was also a noble-style negotiation method taught by her father.
But Bianca shook her head.
“The problem is the scale.”
“Scale...?”
“Unifying weights and measures is something nobles have to give up some of their authority from their perspective. It’s not at the level of shaking a few bottles of perfume and a few chests of gold coins. Rather, if touched with money, they might take it as an insult.”
Bianca explained in a lower, clearer voice.
“Especially if it’s the nobles in the Emperor’s direct territories. They are closer to the center, people the imperial family directly uses. They have strong self-esteem and are sensitive to their own rights. If such people hear rumors that they’ve been ‘seduced by limited perfumes,’ it would damage their pride instead.”
Angela stuck out her lips.
It wasn’t wrong.
That’s why she was even more aggrieved.
“Then how...?”
“Angela.”
Luang called her.
“Huh? Eh?”
And tapped the seat next to him with his fingertips.
“Come sit here.”
“Eh... yes.”
Angela, not knowing why she was called, obediently moved to the side.
Because she liked it.
And honestly, because she was afraid to refuse.
But as soon as she sat—
“Hic...?!”
Luang’s hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her in.
Angela’s body was sucked into his arms.
“Look at that. Good girl.”
Luang started stroking Angela’s hair as if it was nothing.
Angela froze in place.
“W-what, why...?”
“Shh. Quietly.”
A low, soft voice.
The touch slowly stroked down her hair.
At first, she was so flustered that her body tensed, but after the hand stroked over her head a few more times, strangely, the strength slowly left her.
It was too close.
The sensation of contact was too clear.
The firmness of the chest, the strength of the arms wrapping her waist, the feeling of fingertips messing with her hair—all felt.
So, she became even more dazed.
Luang looked at her and said soothingly like to a child.
“Angela, follow my words.”
“Eh... yes.”
“Roan, please.”
“Roan... please?”
“I understand.”
“Huh? Uh-huh?”
Angela’s face still didn’t understand the situation.
Bianca, watching the scene from the side, felt her face heat up for no reason.
It was too blatant.
Even though she was being treated so embarrassingly, Angela didn’t resist at all, just following Luang’s words.
Even when hugged in his arms,
stroked on the head,
with her face flushed, she just entrusted her body.
Bianca awkwardly avoided her gaze.
She couldn’t insert herself there, and pretending not to be bothered was also difficult.
“Ahem... Then, shall we continue the story?”
“Yes.”
Luang said calmly while holding Angela in his arms.
“Since Angela also asked me, I have to do the unification of weights and measures.”
“U-uh...?”
Angela still had a dazed expression.
Bianca suddenly had a strange thought.
There might be a prejudice that pink-haired people are fools in the world.
Of course, she hadn’t heard of it.
But since the only pink-haired person she knew was in this state, it didn’t seem strange that such a prejudice would arise.
She forced her expression and asked again.
“Then, will the negotiation be held after Lady Rosefield arrives?”
“Yes. The unification of weights and measures will ultimately revolve around the northeast, so the Rosefield family can’t be left out.”
“Understood.”
“And the only thing I have to tell the nobles beforehand is this.”
Luang smiled lazily.
“If you don’t follow, the crazy dog will come.”
“...Yes?”
“It will be tiring, but it can’t be helped. You can live comfortably after suffering when young.”
Bianca found it hard to understand the words.
The crazy dog will come?
Did he mean he would personally go if they didn’t follow weights and measures?
Nobles usually don’t move directly over such trivial matters.
They pass on taxes below, leave territory management to agents, and enjoy themselves in the capital.
Directly going down and interrogating is rare.
That’s not a noble thing to do.
But in Luang’s mind, a completely different picture was emerging.
An existence that directly goes and catches greedy nobles.
An existence that receives the king’s order and corrects the order in the provinces.
“Though it’s bothersome, if bitten directly, they’ll listen to the words.”
A very familiar word to people of the Korean peninsula.
I decided to become an inspector.